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What is Lighting Quality?
a guest post by Lisa J. Reed, Lighting Designer

We often talk about how high-quality lighting can promote productivity, comfort, and well-being. Now this
concept has been incorporated into a credit in the newest version of LEED.

According to LEED v4, lighting quality is five things. In the new LEED, a lighting quality credit can be
achieved by employing four of eight optional strategies.

Lighting quality is:

1. Low glare
Luminance of below 2500 cd/m2 at high viewing angles between 45 and 90
degrees above nadir. This means using cutoff fixtures or those without glare.
Lamps need to be recessed into the light fixtures to achieve this, not hanging
out at the ceiling plane.
2. Good color rendering
The LEED version of “good” color rendering is a CRI of 80 or higher. I submit
that in today’s world, we can do better. Try for 90+.
3. Long life
75% of your installed lighting will have to last 24,000 hours or longer. Many linear fluorescent lamps
will qualify. Most LED lamps will qualify. Halogen and CFL sources will not.
4. Indirect lighting
Only 25% of the installed lighting load for regularly occupied spaces can be direct only. Use
direct/indirect fixtures or indirect lighting. People love indirect lighting. Now we get LEED points for it
too.
5. Good surface reflectances
a. These two options can be used to achieve comfortable and energy efficient reflectances within a
space. One is for the reflectance of ceiling, walls, and floor to be fairly high. White paint is more
reflective than black paint. When surface reflectance is high, less energy is required, because light
bounces around the space instead of being absorbed by dark colored surfaces. LEED v4 requires a
minimum weighted average reflectance of 85% for ceilings, 60% for walls, and 25% for floors.
b. Furniture finishes are important for lighting reflectance and contrast, too. Where furniture is
included, work surfaces should have a minimum 45% reflectance (this probably rules out
mahogany desktops), and movable partitions need to be 50% reflective. Light surfaces all around.
6. Even illumination
a. We experience spaces three dimensionally, so the illuminance ratio of the task to the walls around
us is important to minimize eye fatigue. Used in conjunction with the good reflectance
requirements, the maximum ratio of walls to work surface for 75% of the regularly occupied area
must be 1:10. This means that the light falling onto the work surface can be no more than 10x the
amount of light falling onto the walls.
 b. Similarly, the maximum ratio of ceiling illuminance to work surface illuminance for 75% of regularly
occupied spaces is required to be 1:10. Sitting in a completely dark room with just a task light will
probably not meet these requirements.

While this may fall short of a complete and thorough description of lighting quality, it is a step in the right
direction, and I applaud USGBC for addressing the issues of quality and not just energy consumption
without regard for its effect on people.

Lisa J. Reed has been attracted to lighting (like a moth to a flame) for 20+ years.
She is the Founding Principal at Envision Lighting Design, LLC in St. Louis, where
she designs, teaches, and writes about architectural lighting.

 
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